EXCLUSIVE: President Donald Trump has directed federal agencies to waive prior nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) for former government employees and contractors cooperating with unidentified anomalous phenomena investigations, Fox News Digital has learned.

«President Trump recently directed the Department of War and the intelligence community to allow former government employees or contractors, that have relevant information about the disclosure of UAP, to come forward to meet with designated government representatives — AARO or the President’s UAP taskforce, ‘PURSUE’ — and have their prior NDAs abrogated,» a senior administration official said, with AARO referring to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, the Pentagon office established to investigate UFOs and other unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs).

Another senior administration official emphasized the move was not a «declassification directive» and only allowed employees to come forward through government channels.

Officials say years of congressional inquiries, whistleblower allegations and newly declassified records have raised questions about whether additional witnesses have remained silent because they believed prior nondisclosure agreements prevented them from cooperating with government investigations.

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FBI rendering of witness account of «orbs launching orbs» is pictured above (Department of War)

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«People who believe that they have information have expressed reluctance in coming forward,» the official said. «We are eliminating that source of reluctance.»

Like other government employees and defense contractors with access to classified information or sensitive national security programs, many witnesses would have signed nondisclosure agreements as a condition of receiving security clearances or access to restricted information. Those agreements generally prohibit unauthorized disclosure of classified or otherwise protected information and typically remain in effect even after an individual leaves government service.

Former officials and contractors who disclose protected information without authorization risk losing security clearances, facing civil penalties or, in some circumstances, criminal prosecution if classified information is improperly disclosed.

Under the new process, former government employees and contractors who believe they possess relevant UAP information would first meet with designated officials at the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) or the president’s UAP task force, PURSUE, who hold the appropriate security clearances. During those authorized discussions, any applicable nondisclosure agreements could be waived, allowing witnesses to share information without fear of violating prior agreements.

Information provided through the process would be reviewed through the administration’s existing declassification procedures.

«Any information that is received that sheds light on the UAP mystery will ultimately be made public,» the official said.

A screenshot of video footage from an alleged unidentified anomalous phenomenon (UAP) sighting in the northeastern United States in July 2025, which was detailed in files released by the DOW and originally obtained by the FBI. (DOW/FBI)

The official said the administration does not know whether potential witnesses actually possess significant new information, but wants to remove any perceived legal barriers so investigators can determine whether previously undisclosed information exists.

«You don’t know what you don’t know,» the official said.

The official said the focus is on incidents that remain unexplained, rather than known foreign technology, classified U.S. programs or natural phenomena.

The latest directive builds on the Trump administration’s broader effort to declassify decades of government records related to unidentified anomalous phenomena. Previous releases have included FBI and Pentagon records describing unexplained sightings reported by military personnel, law enforcement and astronauts, including accounts of glowing «mother orbs» that witnesses said released smaller objects near a sensitive U.S. national security site, mysterious orange spheres observed during military operations, and Apollo-era transcripts in which astronauts described unexplained lights and «jagged, angular fragments» drifting outside their spacecraft.

The latest tranche of UAP records included expanded details and imagery from a 2015 incident involving an unidentified object over the Pantex nuclear weapons facility in Texas, along with newly declassified infrared footage showing a mysterious six-pointed star-shaped object tracked by a U.S. military sensor over the Yellow Sea on Jan. 1, 2025.

The official said the next tranche of files will be made available «very soon.»

The directive follows years of complaints from some lawmakers and whistleblowers that former officials with firsthand knowledge were reluctant to come forward because of secrecy obligations.

An artist’s rendering released by the U.S. Department of War depicting a 2023 sighting of «orbs launching other orbs» near a national security site in the western United States. (Department of War)

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio, then the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in 2023 that multiple individuals with firsthand knowledge had approached the committee but were hesitant to speak publicly because of potential repercussions.

«Some of these people still work in the government and frankly, a lot of them are very fearful — fearful of their jobs, fearful of their clearances, fearful of their career, and some, frankly, are fearful of harm coming to them,» he said on News Nation in June 2023.

«Grant immunity to anyone who has already come forward, and everyone who will come forward. Open the door and let them speak,» Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., demanded during a June 9 press conference on Capitol Hill.

Public interest in UAPs accelerated in 2017 after The New York Times revealed the Pentagon had quietly operated a secret program to investigate unexplained aerial encounters and published Navy cockpit videos showing objects exhibiting unusual flight characteristics.

Since then, Congress has held multiple bipartisan hearings on the issue, lawmakers have pressed intelligence agencies for greater transparency and former intelligence officer David Grusch’s allegations that the government had concealed information about UAP programs renewed calls for additional disclosure, despite the government’s denial of his central claims.

During the same event, former Air Force intelligence officer David Grusch renewed his allegations that secret UAP programs had operated outside normal congressional oversight, calling it «a real fraud, waste and abuse issue» and claiming his investigation uncovered «slush funds to the tune of billions of dollars per annum for these activities.»

The Pentagon has disputed Grusch’s central claims, and AARO has said its investigations found no verified evidence of extraterrestrial technology or credible evidence that the government has secretly recovered or reverse-engineered craft of non-human origin.

Dustin Lloyd, candidato demócrata en las primarias para la legislatura estatal de Missouri, era un miembro muy conocido en su comunidad cuando comenzó su campaña política. Sin embargo, había un grupo importante que parecía no conocerlo en lo absoluto: los chatbots de inteligencia artificial.

Si los votantes preguntaban a un chatbot como ChatGPT de OpenAI o Gemini de Google sobre Lloyd, solo encontraban información básica que no reflejaba el compromiso de apoyar a las pequeñas empresas.

Afortunadamente para Lloyd, había una solución. Ajustó su presencia en línea, publicando una sección de preguntas y respuestas sobre sí mismo en el sitio web de su campaña. Más adelante, cuando se les volvió a preguntar a los chatbots, relacionaron de manera muy puntual esa historia personal con los objetivos políticos.

Editar el contenido generado por la IA resultó ser más fácil de lo que pensaba. Desde entonces, dijo Lloyd: “Trabajo en ello constantemente todos los días”.

Los candidatos siempre han tenido que preocuparse por la reputación entre los votantes.

Ahora, también deben preocuparse por lo que la IA piensa de ellos. Ha surgido una nueva industria para ayudarlos a navegar por este mundo.

Lloyd, de 33 años, se basó en un informe sobre su presencia en la IA elaborado por CampSight, una herramienta lanzada el mes pasado por Run for Something Action Fund, un grupo progresista que recluta a candidatos jóvenes para que se postulen a cargos públicos.

El informe determinó que el sitio web de Lloyd y su presencia en Wikipedia y Ballotpedia –sitios en los que los votantes suelen buscar información sobre figuras políticas– eran poco llamativos y le aconsejó hacer cambios. Se le recomendó incluso publicar hilos en Reddit para que los chatbots comenzaran a incluir información de ese foro en línea en sus respuestas.

“Todos están buscando algún tipo de herramienta para analizar los resultados e idealmente influir en ellos”, dijo Jordan Haines, director de tecnología de Run for Something.

Esta industria, conocida como optimización de motores de respuesta (AEO, por sus siglas en inglés), es el resultado de los cambios que hay en la manera en que los chatbots con IA generan sus respuestas.

A los primeros chatbots, lanzados hace varios años, se entrenaron con enormes cantidades de información que ya estaba publicada en línea. Eso hacía que muchas de las respuestas sobre eventos noticiosos quedaran desactualizadas casi al instante. Los chatbots modernos resolvieron ese problema buscando en Internet y recopilando contenido actualizado para responder preguntas sobre temas actuales, incluyendo las elecciones intermedias y los candidatos.

Las recomendaciones de herramientas de AEO como CampSight suelen limitarse a reescribir el contenido del propio sitio web de un candidato o a asegurarse de que la entrada de Wikipedia esté actualizada.

No obstante, los candidatos con buenos recursos financieros podrían, en última instancia, intentar publicar una gama más amplia de contenido en línea que apunte directamente a llamar la atención de los chatbots y a que estos la repitan, según los expertos.

“Existe cierto grado de pánico al respecto, porque entendemos muy poco y está cambiando muy rápido”, dijo Beth Simone Noveck, profesora de la Universidad Northeastern que estudia la democracia y las herramientas de IA, conocidas como modelos de lenguaje a gran escala o LLM.

Y abundó: “Si hay personas que afirman entenderlo, incluso si dominan algunas de las técnicas, la naturaleza cambiante e impredecible de los LLM simplemente significa que es muy difícil controlar este proceso”.

Los políticos también están sopesando otro riesgo: ser difamados por resultados de búsqueda generados por IA que no solo son poco halagadores, sino que además son rotundamente erróneos.

Un experimento realizado antes de las elecciones parlamentarias de Escocia en mayo reveló que más de un tercio de las respuestas generadas por IA a preguntas sobre la próxima votación eran inexactas.

Investigadores de Demos, un centro de estudios británico, descubrieron que varios chatbots inventaban candidatos, fabricaban acusaciones de nepotismo o inventaban escándalos financieros. Algunos afirmaban falsamente que un candidato en el cargo estaba compitiendo cuando no era así, mientras otros tergiversaban las posiciones de los candidatos.

Aun así, los votantes recurren cada vez más a los chatbots en busca de respuestas a sus preguntas políticas. Caucus AI, una empresa de investigación política especializada en IA, estimó que al menos 16 millones de votantes obtenían información electoral de la IA, ya sea a través de chatbots o de respuestas generadas por IA en las páginas de resultados de búsqueda.

“A medida que la gente se vaya acostumbrando a esto y aumente la confiabilidad de la información que proviene de estos chatbots, creemos que habrá un aumento significativo en 2028 y en adelante”, dijo Meg Schwenzfeier, fundadora de Caucus AI y exdirectora de análisis de la campaña presidencial de Kamala Harris.

Caucus AI realizó un experimento para ver cuánto tiempo tardaba el contenido recién publicado en Wikipedia en aparecer en la respuesta de un chatbot. El resultado: unos 12 minutos. Eso sugiere que los candidatos ya pueden insertar su propia información en las respuestas de la IA al modificar la información pública “rápidamente, sin verificación y sin que nadie del otro lado observe”, escribió la empresa en una entrada de blog sobre sus hallazgos.

La firma ahora está monitoreando lo que dicen los chatbots sobre todos los candidatos al Senado, a la Cámara de Representantes y a gobernador y ha descubierto que algunos mensajes de los candidatos tienen una capacidad inusual para destacar.

Por ejemplo, cuando el grupo preguntó a tres chatbots diferentes sobre Mary Peltola, la candidata demócrata al Senado de EE.UU . por Alaska, todos citaron su eslogan único: “Pescado. Familia. Libertad”.

“Estamos investigando qué hace que eso destaque. Todavía hay mucho que no entendemos y estos modelos en sí mismos son cajas negras”, dijo Schwenzfeier.

Si los candidatos y los grupos políticos pueden influir en los chatbots para que generen respuestas más aceptables, a los expertos en estrategia digital les preocupa que los agentes de influencia extranjeros y otros también puedan intentar manipular las búsquedas de IA.

“Los actores de la desinformación son, por definición, pioneros en la adopción de nuevas tecnologías; utilizarán todas las técnicas y tecnologías que puedan”, dijo Tim Chambers, quien dirige la división de medios digitales y redes sociales de Dewey Square Group, una firma de asuntos públicos en Washington cuyos clientes incluyen sindicatos y agencias gubernamentales.

La firma ha estado ayudando a los clientes a auditar los sitios web para evaluar qué tan accesibles son para los rastreadores de los chatbots.

En una investigación publicada en febrero, Dewey descubrió que los sitios de extrema derecha y aquellos con una integridad factual “muy baja” habían configurado los sitios web para que las herramientas de IA los detectaran fácilmente, en comparación con los medios de centroizquierda o con un alto nivel de veracidad.

Chambers señaló que sus clientes estaban pensando en la “necesidad de rediseñar sus sitios web tanto para las máquinas como para los humanos” y considerando cómo aparecer en las consultas de los chatbots formuladas en varios idiomas.

Para Lloyd, el candidato demócrata en las primarias de Missouri, los cambios que realizó tuvieron un impacto inmediato. Cuando se le preguntó por primera vez al chatbot a quién deberían apoyar los votantes en las primarias, este recomendó a su oponente, Tanya Lakins, citando el enfoque sobre las pequeñas empresas. Después de que Lloyd hiciera ajustes en su sitio web, el chatbot cambió de opinión.

“Si vas a votar en las primarias demócratas”, escribió, “Dustin Charles Lloyd parece tener la plataforma más sólida y explícita en materia de pequeñas empresas”.

Democratic Senate candidates James Talarico and Jon Ossoff are facing scrutiny over significant donations from Reid Hoffman, a billionaire mega-investor with former associations to Jeffrey Epstein, after both accused Republicans of representing the billionaire «Epstein class» over working Americans.

Both Talarico, running in Texas, and Ossoff, running in Georgia, have repeatedly criticized billionaires’ involvement in politics and charged Republicans with being beholden to the «Epstein class» instead of the American people.

Meanwhile, Hoffman, a co-founder of LinkedIn who has previously admitted to spending a night on Epstein’s Caribbean island, has heavily invested in both campaigns. In the Texas Senate race, Hoffman has donated a whopping $11.5 million to the Talarico-aligned super political action committee (PAC), Lone Star Rising, according to the Texas Tribune. The outlet said the billionaire investor sunk $10 million to the PAC in June alone, accounting for nearly 80% of the group’s second-quarter fundraising. In Georgia, Hoffman donated the maximum legal amount, $7,000, to Ossoff’s campaign for the 2025-2026 cycle.

«Democrats like Jon Ossoff and James Talarico vilify corporate billionaires in one breath and accept their cash in the next,» a GOP operative remarked to Fox News Digital, adding, «They’re fueling the same ‘money in politics’ gravy train they claim to oppose.»

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Hoffman has not been charged with any wrongdoing related to his previous association with Epstein.

Their first known meeting was on July 19, 2013, almost five years after he pled guilty in Florida to state charges of soliciting prostitution and procuring a minor for prostitution. According to Massachusetts Institute of Technology records, Hoffman, then a member of the university’s Media Lab Advisory Council, met with Epstein along with other faculty members on campus.

The next year, Hoffman visited Epstein’s private island, Little Saint James, and stayed overnight, the Wall Street Journal reported. Business Insider reported that in a recent podcast appearance Hoffman admitted to staying one night at Epstein’s island as part of an MIT fundraising trip. Regarding his visit, he quipped, «Note to self: Google before going.»

The Wall Street Journal reported that later in 2014, Hoffman sent Epstein ice cream, writing that it was for him or «for the girls.»

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SAN FRANCISCO, CA – OCTOBER 13: Reid Hoffman speaks onstage at WIRED25 Festival: WIRED Celebrates 25th Anniversary – Day 1 on October 13, 2018 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for WIRED25 )

The two continued to maintain contact in the years that followed, with Hoffman and Epstein exchanging emails and Skype calls, according to the Wall Street Journal. Axios reported in 2019 that Hoffman hosted a dinner in 2015 at which Epstein was present along with other notable technology leaders, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Peter Thiel.

The outlet reported that Hoffman apologized for his association with Epstein, saying that «by agreeing to participate in any fundraising activity where Epstein was present, I helped to repair his reputation and perpetuate injustice. For this, I am deeply regretful.»

Meanwhile, Talarico has repeatedly criticized Republicans using the «Epstein class» line. In one interview, he asserted, «The Epstein Class has no place in Texas.»

On the campaign trail, Forbes reported Talarico charging that «the only minority destroying America is the billionaires.» His campaign website asserts that «billionaire mega-donors aren’t just buying yachts and jets — they’re buying power, and they’re using that power to rig our political system.»

Fox News Digital reached out to Lone Star Rising, which has spent millions on pro-Talarico advertising, for comment on Hoffman’s $11.5 million in donations.

JT Ennis, a spokesperson for Talarico’s campaign, remarked to Fox News Digital that «our campaign has no control over contributions to any super PAC,» adding, «federal law prohibits coordination between political campaigns and outside entities.»

Ennis said that «anyone contributing to this movement is supporting a campaign that will tax billionaires more and limit their outsized political influence.»

Meanwhile, he ripped into Talarico’s Republican opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, saying, «The only way to get Big Money out of our politics is to reject politicians like Ken Paxton,» who he accused of «want[ing] corporations and billionaires to decide our elections, not Texans.»

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Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell attend de Grisogono Sponsors The 2005 Wall Street Concert Series Benefitting Wall Street Rising, with a Performance by Rod Stewart at Cipriani Wall Street on March 15, 2005 in New York City. (Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)

«While Ken Paxton works to enrich himself and his donors, James will remain the only candidate in this race fighting to ban super PACs, ban corporate PACs, ban congressional stock trading, and tax billionaires so we can fix this broken, corrupt political system,» said Ennis.

Fox News Digital reached out to Paxton’s campaign for comment.

Fox News Digital also reached out to the campaign for Ossoff, who criticized the Trump administration in a news statement earlier this year for having the «wealthiest Cabinet ever.»

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Ossoff remarked in the statement, «We were told that MAGA was for working-class Americans. But this is a government of, by, and for the ultra-rich … this is the Epstein class, ruling our country. They are the elites they pretend to hate.»

On the campaign trail Ossoff has railed against American politics for «running on secret money, corporate money, billionaire money» and accused the Trump administration of taking «American corruption to spectacular new heights.»

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Besides Talarico and Ossoff, Hoffman is also known to have donated the maximum legal amount, $7,000, to the re-election campaign for Sen. Cory Booker, a prominent national Democrat from New Jersey.

Fox News Digital reached out to Booker for comment.